QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

QuidelOrtho Corporation (NASDAQ:QDEL)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $14.75 and last traded at $15.0080, with a volume of 257918 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.60.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on QDEL. Zacks Research cut shares of QuidelOrtho from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho from $23.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group set a $30.00 price objective on shares of QuidelOrtho in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $31.50.

QuidelOrtho Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.89 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.90.

QuidelOrtho (NASDAQ:QDEL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $723.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $699.80 million. QuidelOrtho had a positive return on equity of 5.91% and a negative net margin of 41.46%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that QuidelOrtho Corporation will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian J. Blaser purchased 10,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $23.59 per share, for a total transaction of $248,638.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 40,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $945,322.07. This trade represents a 35.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Joseph M. Busky acquired 3,370 shares of QuidelOrtho stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.66 per share, for a total transaction of $79,734.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 10,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,461.40. This represents a 48.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased a total of 23,910 shares of company stock worth $567,973 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in QDEL. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in QuidelOrtho by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,832,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $337,925,000 after purchasing an additional 819,908 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of QuidelOrtho by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,470,656 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,122,000 after purchasing an additional 563,893 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of QuidelOrtho by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,859,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,208,000 after buying an additional 350,636 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of QuidelOrtho by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,704,355 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,236,000 after buying an additional 35,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newtyn Management LLC boosted its stake in QuidelOrtho by 58.3% in the third quarter. Newtyn Management LLC now owns 2,700,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,515,000 after buying an additional 994,332 shares in the last quarter. 99.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

QuidelOrtho Company Profile

QuidelOrtho is a global diagnostics company formed through the merger of Quidel Corporation and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. The combined entity develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of rapid and high-throughput diagnostic solutions across immunoassay, molecular diagnostics and transfusion medicine. Its offerings span point-of-care platforms for acute care testing as well as large-scale automated systems designed for clinical laboratories and blood banks.

The company’s product range includes rapid antigen and antibody tests for infectious diseases, molecular assays utilizing nucleic acid amplification technology, and integrated immunodiagnostic analyzers.